We realised that the bridge was on our route back to Le Havre,so we had to pay a visit.its situated in a town called Benouville and we arrived and parked up at the cafe Gondree for breakfast.
This building was made famous as it was the first house in France to be liberated by the British Army on the 5/6 June 1944.The 6th Airbourne Division,which was commanded by Major John Howard,arrived in gliders and recaptured the bridge.The cafe is still run by the Gondree family.
The bridge itself is a bascule bridge ( a movable bridge ) which swings up from one end to enable boats to move up the Caen canal,which runs between Caen and Ouistreham.The origional bridge was built in 1934 and replaced with a new identical one in 1994. The origional bridge is in the grounds of the museum of liberation ,which is situated on the other side of the bridge and well worth a visit.
An interesting story about the family who own and run the cafe. When the woman who ran the cafe at the time the Paras dropped in died some years ago, the property was left half and half to her two daughters. French probate law stipulated that one daughter would have to buy out the other, at 50% of the probate valuation of the property.
ReplyDeleteNeither daughter would agree to be the one to be bought out. The position was deadlocked. An old French law was brought into play to resolve the impasse. The two women and a notaire were sat at a table in a room and a candle was lit on the table. If the women had not come to an agreement by the time the candle burnt out, the notaire would decide. And that is what happened.